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Aurorus. An...interesting Fossil Pokémon. Let's see what we can scrounge up...

Stats:
-HP - Incredible - This thing is a Rock AND Ice Type? Seriously? You could've fooled me with that Base 123 HP Stat.
-Attack - Below Average - Definitely an Ice Type because Base 77 Attack is rather meh.
-Defense - Below Average - Base 72 doesn't help your case either. Especially with dual Double Weaknesses to Fighting and Steel (both of which are mostly Physical)
-Sp.Atk - Good-bordering-Great - Just 1 point shy of my "Great" mark, base 99 is rather solid.
-Sp.Def - Good - Base 92 is nice, but with as many Weaknesses as Parasect and 1 less resistance, you're already treading on thin ice despite your huge HP. Too bad you can't overcome...
-Speed - Dead Zone - ...Base 58 Speed too well, even with Rock Polish and/or a lucky Paralyze. Trick Room doesn't do too many favors either because of how out-slowed you are.

Abilities:
-Refrigerate - Pretty cool Ability. Normal-Type Moves gain +30% Power and become Ice-Type. Pairs well with Hyper Voice and Nature Power (becomes Tri Attack inside buildings). Useless otherwise.
-Snow Warning (Hidden, Available) - Summons Hail for 5 turns upon entry. Pairs well with Blizzard, but you have to be sure your team is able to outlast the Hail if Aurorus is either forced out or KO'd too early. Kinda meh.

Overall, Aurorus is a good concept, but poor execution. Its Abilities and Type only compliment itself most of the time. On the flipside, Aurorus gets Moves that you wouldn't normally see on Pokémon of the Rock or Ice Type outside of secondary STAB (Psychic, Dark Pulse, Flash Cannon, Thunderbolt, Water Pulse, etc.). Aurorus has a major flaw in it stemming from its tank-like HP and Sp.Def combined with 6 Weaknesses, 4 of which have plenty of Physical options and 2 of those being Double Weaknesses.

Aurorus is certainly an interesting concept and design for a fossil Pokemon. With a unique typing and access to some more uncommon abilities, it seems like an interesting choice to try on your team...until you get a good look at its stats and movepool. Aurorus has a typing that makes for a good STAB combo, especially if you add Earth Power for coverage. However, its stats are not sufficient to take advantage of its typing, and its poor speed and physical defense leave it vulnerable to six weaknesses, including 4x weaknesses to Steel and Fighting, and it has few resistances. Its Rock-type movepool is limited, too; the poor thing would have loved Power Gem, but you'll have to settle with AncientPower if you want a special Rock STAB. Still, with two solid abilities, a great HP stat, and some decent options on the special side, Aurorus can find itself a niche in competitive gameplay.

This set is actually two NU sets rolled into one. The options before the slashes are one set, and after the slashes is another set, with the exception of the last moveslot. You can run a Refrigerate set for maximum damage with Choice Specs; this makes Aurorus hit quite hard and makes its coverage moves more intimidating. Alternatively, after the slashes we have a Hail set, which trades off raw damage for 100% accurate spammable Blizzards, with a small chance to freeze. Since this set uses Hail, it also breaks sashes and Sturdy. Using an Icy Rock keeps the Hail up as long as possible and keeps you from getting choice-locked into the wrong move. In either case, the idea here is to do a lot of damage and threaten some bulkier threats. In the last slot, AncientPower is a nice STAB option with a small chance to boost your stats, but Stealth Rock can be nice, and few hazard removers like switching into Aurorus. Other options that Aurorus can substitute into that last slot include Rock Tomb for speed control, or Dragon Tail / Roar or Frost Breath to deal with Calm Mind users.

Counterin Aurorus is, unfortunately, not all that difficult. All you really need is decent speed and attack and a good physical Fighting- or Steel-type move. In fact, you can scratch the speed if you have Mach Punch or Bullet Punch. Aurorus's special bulk, however, makes things like Flash Cannon and Focus Blast risky tactics; run some damage calcs if that's the best counter to Aurorus on your team. Defensive options are less effective, since Aurorus has some good coverage, but Hariyama does a good job taking hits from it and threatens back with its own STAB. Bulky Water and Steel types also perform well against Aurorus, resisting its favorite STAB moves and often not being threatened enough by its coverage. Note that Aurorus should not be used above maybe RU tier; beyond that, its weaknesses paired with its poor Speed and Defense will get it destroyed every time.

Aurorus is just terrible this year in VGC16 unfortunately. While Refrigerate Hyper Voices would hit hard against some of the dragons, Snow Warning is useless, it can't take any STAB hit from the primals, and it's really in a weird speed tier. It's slower than the primals outside of Trick Room, but under Trick Room it's threatened by many of the slower Trick Room users with Hypnosis or a x4 super-effective Gyro Ball. Under VGC15 rules or in Battle Spot doubles, it's a little more useful, but still far from a top tier threat.

Aurorus can deal some decent damage with boosted ice-type STAB Hyper Voices or 100% accurate Blizzards depending which ability you choose. Unfortunately it isn't great as a weather setter in weather wars though, as it loses to water and rock attacks from rain and sand teams, as well as grass attacks from Charizard-Y or Chlorophyll users. Freeze Dry hits water types that resist Hyper Voice or Blizzard, and hits harder than Thunderbolt due to the STAB bonus. Earth Power gives coverage against other types that resist ice moves. Ancient Power is STAB and hits Pokemon x4 weak to it hard, while Protect is Protect and still amazing in doubles. A more efficient spread can probably be used where more is invested in Def or SpDef since its HP is massive compared to those other 2 defensive stats, but max HP here just boosts general defensive bulk, and max SpAtk allows it to hit harder. Aurorus really can't take more than a hit or two due to its terrible defensive typing though, so you may be able to invest some in speed IF you also have speed control to support it. Aurorus is in a bit of a dead zone for Trick Room, and is really outclassed by both mega and non-mega Abomasnow under TR. The items just boost Aurorus's damage output, and it has a number of other coverage moves depending on what your team needs.

The scariest team that Aurorus is known to be a part of is probably the annoying "VoidCat" strategy, in which Liepard can spam Assist to get off Prankster Dark Voids from a Smeargle on the team. Aurorus typically runs Nature Power (which turns into a normal move in online battles to get the Refrigerate boost) as Assist won't pick that up.

I love this pokemon but it would be so much better if it's stat spread focused more on offense and speed over bulk. Rock/Ice is amazing offensively but terrible defensively. That said, I think Aurorus is best used as a sweeper contrary to it's stats.

The idea here is to rock polish on first turn and try to sweep after. Hyper voice or nature power is for stab and your ability, ancientpower is for stab, and earth power is for coverage. Hold item is importaint considering your typing.

I would think this set could also work with amura too.

My alpha sapphire in game name is kisame. My pokemon moon in game name is Matthew.

I love this pokemon but it would be so much better if it's stat spread focused more on offense and speed over bulk. Rock/Ice is amazing offensively but terrible defensively. That said, I think Aurorus is best used as a sweeper contrary to it's stats.

The idea here is to rock polish on first turn and try to sweep after. Hyper voice or nature power is for stab and your ability, ancientpower is for stab, and earth power is for coverage. Hold item is importaint considering your typing.

I would think this set could also work with amura too.

This seems to come up often whenever sweeping is the topic, but Focus Sash is a not a good item choice for trying to sweep, contrary to what some may believe. Focus Sash is only reliable if the Pokemon is in the lead position, due to the fact that hazards (most notably Stealth Rock, which Aurorus is weak to) will circumvent Sash's usefulness entirely. Only in the lead position can you absolutely ensure that hazards aren't gonna break your Sash, and you often don't want to attempt a sweep from the lead position as Aurorus's average power can often miss crucial KOs if things aren't softened up a bit first. Aurorus does sometimes use a Sash, but that's when it's used as a Stealth Rock setter in the lead position, not a sweeper.

SMod, One of the writers for the PotW, and someone you'll be hearing from often if you fail to read the rules

This seems to come up often whenever sweeping is the topic, but Focus Sash is a not a good item choice for trying to sweep, contrary to what some may believe. Focus Sash is only reliable if the Pokemon is in the lead position, due to the fact that hazards (most notably Stealth Rock, which Aurorus is weak to) will circumvent Sash's usefulness entirely. Only in the lead position can you absolutely ensure that hazards aren't gonna break your Sash, and you often don't want to attempt a sweep from the lead position as Aurorus's average power can often miss crucial KOs if things aren't softened up a bit first. Aurorus does sometimes use a Sash, but that's when it's used as a Stealth Rock setter in the lead position, not a sweeper.

I'm glad you mentioned the Sash lead, because Aurorus pulls it off pretty well, given its immunity to both Sand and Hail which can ruin other Sash leads' day.

BTW we should still make Battle Spot Doubles set, which is basically VGC 15 and the default option on Battle Spot. Aurorus is ok there. Just wondering, is Icy Plate Aurorus good in doubles?

See the post above yours and I think Life Orb or Choice Specs are much better items since Aurorus could use as much of a boost to its damage output as possible, but Icicle Plate is a decent alternative if those items are already taken up on your team, or if you don't like the "side effects" from those items. I'm not sure if I would say it's "good," but that has more to do with Aurorus itself than the item choice.

In RU, Stealth Rock is just part of the offensive Life Orb set. Combining Rock Polish and Stealth Rock gives Aurorus too much roles, while letting it easily walled by steel and fire types.

I actually really like Amaura in LC, since it can actualy be a good Choice Scarf Pokemon, and walks all over Fletchling, something Aurorus can never do with Talonflame. Ive used the SW variant but are good depending on the team. If only Aurorus had base 95 speed, but then again, its a longneck (yes, i know that's a Land Before Time reference).

I'm glad you mentioned the Sash lead, because Aurorus pulls it off pretty well, given its immunity to both Sand and Hail which can ruin other Sash leads' day.

Well... yes and no. Residual damage from weather may be a nuisance in that it can pick off something hanging on with 1 HP due to Focus Sash, but it doesn't exactly stop those leads from doing their job, since the entire purpose of the Sash is to ensure they survive that single turn to set up their hazards. Unfortunately Aurorus's awkward speed tier does mean it can be Taunted pretty easily in the lead position, although it does at least benefit from the fact that it can beat Xatu if it tries to bounce Rocks.

SMod, One of the writers for the PotW, and someone you'll be hearing from often if you fail to read the rules

..If you're feeling crazy, then you could maybe try out a CB Aurorus, with a moveset of Return/Facade/Stone Edge/ Earthquake. From the Smogon dex, I get the impression that it is actually usable thanks to Refrigerate and the ability to get a boost to Facade- a Choice Band, 140 Base power move, boosted by 30% due to Refrigerate and then with STAB is certainly scary. You need to get Burned/Toxic'd/Paralysed for it to be really worth it, but it should be listed under OOs.

Just a few lil' guys who I feel are underappreciated or that I just like.